Christmas Ikebana in the Snow

Twinkling lights, smells of cinnamon and spices from the kitchen, smiles on people's faces, familiar songs on the radio, decorations everywhere you look, and the hope of snow -- yes, it's that time of year again, Christmas!

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. There is just something about the season that brings out the best in people, it's a time when wishes are granted, a time of magic, hope, love, and giving. Who wouldn't love that?

It also means it's time for some Christmas ikebana. It's difficult to find what I think of as Christmas materials, cedar and pine branches, the traditional evergreens of Christmas, here in Japan. The thought here is that if you have any kind of green and red, you have Christmas. But it just doesn't feel right to me. Yes, it is pretty, but it just isn't Christmas without the traditional Christmas boughs.

A couple of weeks ago, the Morioka Chapter of Ohara-ryu Ikebana had a small exhibition, a みんなの花展 (Minna no katen). It was the beginning of November, but everyone wanted to do a Christmas themed exhibition. I felt it was a bit too early, but some of the others pointed out that in ikebana, using materials and themes earlier than their time is a common practice. So, we decided to have a Christmas exhibition with the sub-theme being Christmas Wish, trying to bring a bit of magic and hope to the people of the area after a devastating year hear in Japan.

I knew once the theme was decided that I wanted to do a circular form arrangement and use some candles, something a bit westernized. I began to make some plans about what I wanted to use -- Christmas evergreens, white spider chrysanthemums, white carnations, maybe even some poinsettia? I also wanted to make it look as if it was in the snow, so I began to look for some snow on the Internet.

I couldn't find anything I liked and just happened to stumble upon a picture of some snow in a jar surrounding a candle; and the snow was, believe it or not, some Epsom salts. On one of my outings to the grocery store, I tried to find some Epsom salts, but they don't have that here in Japan. So, I tried to look for some big crystal salts, which proved difficult to find, too. I ended up back on the Internet and found some beautiful salt from Nepal. I ordered a couple of kilograms and was set to go!

The week or so before, I began to look for the Christmas evergreens that I wanted to use. Close to Christmas it is difficult to find that kind of material; it was even more difficult to find it in the beginning of November. Outside of the school that I teach at, there are a few Christmas evergreens, so I snipped a few branches from the bushes. I was lucky enough to find some suitable evergreens at a flower shop in a local grocery store, too. And I even managed to find some eucalyptus to mix in with the other evergreen branches. I think I had 5 different green materials by the time the exhibition rolled around. The white carnations and spider chrysanthemums were easy to find, too; but in the end, I decided not to use any poinsettia. I wanted to use only white flowers and use a few red ball ornaments to add a splash of color to the arrangement.

I made my circular form using 5 small jam jars that I had been saving for quite a while. (I knew they would come in handy one of these days.) I had a large candle stand that I placed in the center of the arrangement with a large white candle, and I covered the base of the arrangement in my salt "snow". I thought it looked very cold and frosty, but with the red ball ornaments, it still had a happy feeling to it. When viewed from above, it looked like a wreath, but I had used 5 containers with the materials spreading out in a circular motion -- a perfect combination of eastern ikebana and western Christmas.

Circular form

A close-up -- you can see the "snow" and the way the materials reach out in a circular form.

I also added a few pine cones to give it a more natural feel.
I thought the spider chrysanthemums also looked like snowflakes.

A close-up of the "snow".

View from above, a wreath. (Sorry, not the best picture. I took this one with my phone.)

The exhibition was held in a hotel lobby, and it put a lot of smiles on people faces as they walked around looking at all of the beautiful flowers. I think the magic and hope of Christmas was felt by everyone who attended the exhibition. I certainly felt it, and it warmed my heart.

Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think, or any of your favorite Christmas memories.

Golden Fall Ikebana Exhibition

It's that time of year again -- time for the fall ikebana exhibitions. Yes, that's right, exhibition"s".

This year, the two exhibitions were held at the same time. One of them is the local one in my city, but the other exhibition is the prefectural exhibition held in a city about an hours drive north of where I live. The prefectural exhibition is held in two parts over four days. I was lucky enough to take part in the second half, so I didn't have to worry about trying to do two different arrangements in two different cities in one day. Whew!

This year, I wanted to use something gold in my arrangements. I always think of gold as a fall color. I bought some petrified willow, which has great shapes and movement. It's not really petrified, but it is very hard and will not bend, hence the name. I left them out of water for about a week, and then I got out my can of gold spray paint and sprayed away. The golden effect was achieved.

I also wanted to use some type of colored leaves in my arrangement -- it is fall, after all. But most of the leaves that you can use do not last a long time. And the place where the exhibition is held gets quite warm, causing the flowers to wilt or fade faster than usual. I went to the flower shop to see what they had, and they had the perfect material -- colored hypericum leaves. Usually, hypericum has small red or yellow berries, but these didn't have any berries, and the leaves had turned wonderful fall colors. Perfect! I had my two main materials. Now I only had to decide what I wanted to do.

For the exhibition here in my city, I wanted to do a Hanamai arrangement. It is my favorite style, you know (it is the name of the blog, after all!). I thought that I needed some type of large leaf to go with the line of the petrified willow, and I thought a punch of green would made the colored leaves stand out a bit more, too. I ended up using a small banana leaf. Instead of doing a rising form of Hanamai, I did an inclining form of Hanamai that showed off the movement of the petrified willow.

Hanamai (view from the front)   Petrified Willow, Hypericum, Banana Leaf

view from the right

view from the left

I thought that the arrangement turned out well, except for the horrid background of the old, dirty, peg board. Just don't look at that part of it!

For the prefectural exhibition, I wanted to do a basic form, the Inclining Form. Usually at an exhibition, the arrangements are very big, using lots of flowers and different kinds of materials. I wanted to do something simple, and really show the beauty of the line of the petrified willow. I chose a bright yellow chrysanthemum for this arrangement. I wanted a beautiful brown/yellow one, but they didn't have any at that time. The one that I did choose is very big and almost balls out when opened. Many people thought that it was a Dahlia, but no; just a beautiful chrysanthemum.

Inclining Form    Petrified Willow, Chrysanthemum "Anastasia", Hypericum

You can't tell in the picture, but the vase also had a nice texture to it that added a bit of weight to the arrangement.

It was a busy four days, but I think the arrangements turned out well. Both of them were simple, yet had interesting lines and textures to bring out the beauty of the materials.

*Now, this coming weekend, I have another exhibition. It is a little early, but it will be a Christmas themed exhibition. I have some thoughts on what I want to do, but haven't quite made up my mind, yet. I will post pictures later and let you know what I did.

Ten Original Works by Ten First-time Students

The trial lesson has come and gone, and I can say that it was a success!

The cut off date for registering for the event was the Friday before, September 30. On Friday morning, I had four people registered for the classes, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. By the time I had gotten home from work, around six, I had 10 people signed up for the classes! I would have five in the morning and five in the afternoon. I thought this was the perfect number of people for my first time -- not too many and not too few.

On Saturday morning, I went to the flower shop to pick up the flowers for the classes. I had told the flower shop that I wanted to use New Zealand flax and ping-pong chrysanthemums. I went in all happy and ready to pick them up. But much to my surprise, they didn't have the New Zealand flax! I began to panic a bit in my head, trying to figure out what I could use instead.

In September, there was a large typhoon that went through the southern part of Japan. It was extremely slow moving and dumped large amounts of rain on the area. Along with the strong winds that come with the typhoon, many of the flowers ready to be picked for selling were destroyed. The flower shop had called around to different flower shops and distributors to find the flax, but they had no luck. What was I going to do?

I scrambled around the flower shop and finally decided, about an hour later, that I would use a Japanese willow, Kouri willow, instead of the flax. It was a more difficult material to work with, but it was the only thing that I thought would work and would still be in my budget for the price of the flowers. I hoped that it would work out in the end.

On Sunday morning, I woke up bright and early and got ready for the classes. I ran by the flower shop, picked up the materials, a headed over to the place where the classes would be held. I got the room ready, set out the containers and materials, boiled some water for tea and coffee for after the class, and was ready for the trial students to come.

The morning class went well, but as I had thought, the willow was a bit difficult to use. Everyone used the same materials -- three willow branches and two ping-pong chrysanthemums -- and same containers, but everyone had an original arrangement by the end of the class. For a first-time student, they all did a great job!

M-san's work

S-san's work

T-san's work

A-san's work

E-san's work

The afternoon class also did a wonderful job. Again, all the same, but all a little different.

H-san's work

H-san's work

R-san's work

M-san's work

M-san's work

A local newspaper also came to the afternoon class to do a short story on the class. Nothing like this has ever been done in this area before, so the journalist was very interested in the class.

For those of you who can't read the article, it says that I am a wonderful teacher and have magic hands when it comes to ikebana.

Just kidding! It talks about the class and what we did during the class. It is a very nice article about the event.

I had lots of positive feedback on the classes and have four people who want to start taking lessons. Because of the positive feedback, I have decided to do another trial lesson this month on October 22. But this time, I'm going to do the classes in Japanese. I thought there might be some people who would like to try ikebana, but they don't want to do it in English.

If I get 10 students again, I will be very happy!

Ikebana Classes

For the past year, I've been teaching a small ikebana class once a week. I started out with three students, a woman from Ireland and two Japanese women who live here in Hanamaki. After the big earthquake and tsunami, sadly, the Irish woman decided to go back to Ireland, so I've been teaching the two Japanese women since March.

It has been a wonderful experience for me. I teach the classes in English, but Japanese slips in every once in a while. Sometimes it is easier to explain something in Japanese, and sometimes it is easier to explain something in English. Explaining why we do something the way we do has been the biggest challenge.

Here in Japan, the typical teaching method would be to do what your teacher says and not question why -- Why do you cut the flower short? Why does the branch lean out to the left? Why is the flower pulled down to that angle? Why do you put a short flower here? Why is the large flower placed low in the arrangement? and the list goes on and on. . . 

I think that being an American, I have always been taught and encouraged to ask, "Why?" Now that I look back on when I first started to take ikebana lessons, I'm sure I was quite the headache for my teacher with all my questions about "why"! But, I learned a lot by asking why, and I think my teacher also learned a lot by having to explain the reasons why.

I've really enjoyed teaching the two women. They have both grown over the past year and make some very beautiful arrangements. They don't ask a lot of "why" questions, probably because I explain why before they have a chance! Once in a while, they ask a good question that I really have to think about and explain to them. I think it helps them, and it also helps me as a teacher.

I have decided to try to teach a few more classes starting this fall. I have a year under my belt and feel more confident in my ikebana teaching ability than when I first started out. Eventually, I would love to be a full-time ikebana teacher, but that dream my take a while to achieve. I think starting out slow, like I have, I will be prepared when that day comes.

On October 2, I am going to have a small English ikebana event. I've rented a room for the day and will teach two introductory lessons, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Hopefully, the people who come to the event will enjoy the lesson and want to continue with me. A friend of mine made a wonderful flyer, and I've order 1,000 of them to put in one of the local papers. In a city of around 80,000 people, 1,000 isn't that many, but I think it will be a good start. If I get one person to come, I will be happy. If 20 people come, I will be very happy, but my knees will probably be shaking, too!

*If you are interested in the lesson, please contact me at the address on the right side of the page by September 30.

The Essentials

What do you need to get started doing ikebana?

Here are a few of the basics.

From left to right, are floral wire, bamboo skewers, a sprayer/mister, floral tape, and some scissors.

The floral tape and wire are used sometimes to bind things together or add some extra support to stems. The bamboo skewers are used when doing ikebana in a vase. And the sprayer is used to spray the flowers -- of course, if you had just a regular spray bottle, that would work, too. And lastly, the all-important scissors. Ideally, you would have two pair -- one pair for cutting branches or hard materials, and one pair for cutting flowers. If you use the same pair for everything, the blades will get dull quickly because of cutting through the hard branches. Investing in a good pair of scissors and cleaning them after each use will prolong the life of the scissors.

These are just a few of the containers and vases that I have. I didn't realize I had so many until I got them out to take the picture, and I still had more that wouldn't fit on the desk! I have amassed them over the past 10 years, and most of them are around $20 or less.

Here's a close up of the left side of the desk. The diamond shaped container in the lower left hand corner is the basic container for Ohara-ryu. It is the first container that I bought and still use today. The black vase on the left is the basic vase for Heika, flowers arranged in a vase. The two large round containers are also used often, both for Hana-isho and Moribana. The yellow vase in the foreground was a birthday present from a couple of friends this year. I used it in the previous post to do Hanakanade.

The small, brown vase in the front-middle is one that I made a couple of years ago. The charcoal gray vase behind the one I made is part of a set that I use for Hanamai (my favorite style). It looks a little like the mouth of a dolphin or some sea creature -- I call it my dolphin vase. 

The white vase in the back is the basic vase for Hana-isho, and I use it often, too. The long, beige colored container in the foreground is used for One Row Form and for Hanamai. It was also a birthday present from some friends several years ago. And the list goes on and on . . .  In Ohara-ryu, anything can be used as a container -- a coffee cup and saucer, a favorite bowl or plate from your kitchen, a wine glass, anything goes. (Try not get distracted by my red couch in the background. But, did you notice the paper cups? I did that as a Zokei work and put lights in it. It's now a light in my living room.)

And last but not least, here we have the kenzan and shippo holders. The kenzan (my grandmother always called them frogs; why, I have no idea), or needle-point holder, are used in the containers. You insert the stems of the materials into the kenzan, which holds the flowers up or out at an angle. As you can see from the picture, there are many different sizes and shapes. Depending on the size of the container and how many materials you use determines which kenzan you should use for your arrangement. The shippo in the upper right hand corner, a traditional metal holder with partitions, is used when doing landscapes or when using large branches.

At the very least, you need some scissors, kenzan, a container, and of course some flowers.

Do you have everything you need to get started?

Hanakanade

Recently, a new ikebana style has been introduced by the headmaster into the Ohara School of Ikebana. The name of the new style is Hanakanade. Hana means flower and kanade means to play or perform; so I guess in English you would call it Playing Flowers? Maybe? I'm not sure, so don't quote me on it!

In Ohara Ryu Ikebana, most of the time the flowers in an arrangement flow over the boundary of the container, creating more space and depth in the arrangement. This new style does the opposite. Hanakanade shows the beauty of flowers in the confined space of the container, but doing so in a vertical way.

The three main stems of the arrangement flow up above the container, crossing, and then forming a right triangle in the air with the tips of the stems. The base of the stems are then covered with other flowers and green material, all within the confines of the container. It sort of looks like the circular form and the hanamai form have been combined into a new form.


Last weekend, there was a special demonstration by one of the top teachers of the school. He demonstrated seven different arrangements using seasons flowers and other arrangement using flowers chosen for their colors and textures. Placing the three main stems doesn't take much time, but covering the base of the stems, trying to keep a balance and harmony in the arrangement takes quite a while.

I wanted to try my hand with the new style. I chose flowers based on their colors and textures instead of season flowers. I used liatris, anthurium, spray carnation, prairie gentian, and leather leaf.



Hanakanade



view from above

view from straight on

Did you notice the nice container, too? Two friends gave it to me for my birthday, and I hadn't used it, yet. I thought the yellow color went well with the purple and pink in the arrangement. It's a very nice container, and I love it! Thanks, you two!

Oh, and sorry about the pictures. For some reason I couldn't get my editing program running to erase the line from where the two sheets of paper come together. I bought a rollscreen to use as a backdrop, but I just haven't put it up, yet. Once that's done, I won't have to use the editing program. One of these days . . .

Water Flowers

One of the special characteristics of Ohara-ryu Ikebana is it's use of water flowers -- water lily, lotus, calla lily, and pond lily. All of them have special characteristics that are showed off in the way that they are arranged but have a short life in the container, so they are appreciated very much for their fleeting beauty and cooling effects on a hot summer day.

I recently had the opportunity to do a couple of different water arrangements. The first was of calla lily. It is done in the upright style and is very specific in the way in which the leaves and the calla lily are placed in the container. The arrangement has three flowers and eight leaves. Calla lilies last for over a week, but the leaves of the plant are very delicate and last but a few days. Summer is the only season that the arrangement can be done, so it is a once a year arrangement, if you are lucky enough to have the materials to do it.

Realistic Landscape in the Upright Style with Calla Lily and Bullrush

The other arrangement I did used water lilies. The arrangement depicts the edge of a stream or pond with the Spirea giving the effect of a lush bank on the waters edge. Bullrush is also added as a tall filler, and two water lilies are placed in the arrangement, one at the back and base of the Spirea, and one in the front of the container pulling the eye forward and giving space to the arrangement and also a sense of a water lily floating on the surface of the water out in the pond or stream. The water lily also only last a couple of days, but when they are bloomed out, they are so cool and refreshing to look at. They rules for the placement of the flowers are also determined, like the calla lily above. The arrangement has two flowers, five leaves, two rolled leaves that have not unfurled over the surface of the water, and two small filler leaves.

a close up of the water lilies

Realistic Landscape in the Slanting Style with Spirea, Bullrish, and Water Lily

Both of the arrangements bring the outdoors in and help to cool you off on the hot, humid days here in Japan. I love the water droplets on the leaves of the water lilies, now if I only had a small goldfish swimming in the container. I can definitely feel summer with these arrangements.


*a couple of bonus photos of other summer arrangements

Circular Form with Calla Lilly, Smoke Tree, Hybericum, and small blue flowers from the yard

Circular Form

Natural Landscape of Spirea, Hosta Leaves, and Japanese Bellflower

Summer Ikebana

It's almost the end of June, and the rainy season has started here where I live. Usually during this time of year, it is hot and humid. But this year, it has been unseasonably cool -- which I love! We've had a few hot days, but they've been few and far between. I wish this trend in the weather would last all summer, but I'm sure it will be hot and humid again and I will be wishing for the cold and snow of winter. Until the cooler winter comes, I try to cool myself off with my ikebana arrangements.

In Ohara-ryu, part of the beauty of the arrangements is the way careful attention is paid to the seasons and how to portray them indoors in a confined container. During the summer months, flowers, branches, and leaves are abundant. Different colors, shapes, and textures give you so many options to choose from. I try to choose things that look cool and refreshing and also show off the water of the container, helping to give a cool and refreshing feeling to the work.

A couple of weeks ago, I did a natural summer landscape. My image was that of a bank beside a flowing stream.  I used the Japanese natsu haze branch as my basis to fill out the space and reach across the water's surface. I added a few Hosta leaves to emphasise the land, and then used a single Star Lily to fill in the space and become the star of the arrangement. I tried to be careful with the placement, puling the Lily forward and giving the sense of a cool breeze. I also trimmed many leaves off of the natsu haze branch to also give a sense of lightness to the work. If there are too many leaves, it feels crowded and hot. Trimming the leaves is one of the hardest things to do for me. If you take too many off, the branch looks naked, but if you leave to many on, it feels hot and crowded. But this time, I think I struck the perfect balance.



Summer Natural Landscape arrangement
Natsu Haze, Hosta Leaves, Star Lily


Having an arrangement like this brings the outside in and also gives the sense of a cool breeze on a hot summer day.


Last week, I wanted to do another typical summer arrangement. I did a Traditional Color Scheme Arrangement using Hosta leaves and Chrysanthemum in the Upright Style. Here in Japan, Hosta plants are everywhere, and they represent summer to me. In this style, the position and angle of three of the stems are set, but once you have the basic form of the arrangement, you can play with the lengths and angles of the other stems. The Hosta leaves also have a cooling effect for me. And if you spray water on the leaves, the water beads up, giving a glistening effect to the leaves making them seem even more cool. They are definitely one of my favorite materials to work with.



Traditional Color Scheme Arrangement
Hosta Leaves and Chrysanthemum


I tried to use a paper background for the first time. I thought it might make it look a little more professional and bring more attention to the flowers. What do you think?

So if you are feeling hot this summer, try some cool, refreshing flowers to cool you off.

Spring Exhibition

Every year, during May, there is a prefectural-wide ikebana exhibition. Different schools of ikebana participate over a 4 day period with a total of about 450 people exhibiting an arrangement. I took part and made an arrangement using green and white, something that I thought would look fresh and bright.

I went to the flower shop the day before the exhibition and chose my flowers. I was excited with the combination of flowers and the different colors and textures of the materials. I went to the exhibition hall and did my arrangement the evening before the opening of the exhibition. I thought it turned out very nice.

Radial Form with Cala Lily and Hydrangea

The white hydrangea added a nice weight to the arrangement that pulled the two sides of the form together, balancing the different materials to the left and right of the center. But, I was a little worried -- hydrangea are notorious for not absorbing water and wilting quickly. I had applied some "magic medicine" to the stems to help the flowers absorb the water and thought that I would be OK.

The next morning, before the exhibition opened to the public, I went to check on the flowers. And yes, the top hydrangea had wilted! I had a little less than an hour to do something before the doors opened, so I rushed to the flower shop and tried to find something else to replace the hydrangea. Luckily, they had some white lilies, so I bought three stems and raced back to the exhibition hall. By that time, I only had about 30 minutes left to change my arrangement. I carefully pulled out the hydrangea and inserted the lilies. I also rearranged the small ball-like flowers and finished just before the first people arrived.

Radial Form with Cala Lily and white Lily

I was happy with the result, but liked the first arrangement better. If I had had more time, I would have taken everything out of the vase and rearranged the materials. Oh, well. . . it still looked fresh and bright! Needless to say, the arrangement held though the rest of the exhibition.

Bamboo Bow Tie

My friend has a small design business. In the past he has designed lady's bags; but recently, he has delved into men's fashion. His first project -- a bamboo bow tie. A very unique and beautiful item that combines the Japanese aesthetic of nature with the Western style of men's fashion. I love it!

He asked me to be the model for the bow tie. I said sure and put on several of my best "model" faces and posed for the camera. We had a lot of fun taking the pictures!

Tiger Bamboo Bow Tie with my "pensive" face

My "serious/mean" face with the Studded Bow Tie

After we were done taking the pictures of me wearing the bow tie, we took some photos of just the bow tie.



I curved the stem of a calla Lily to fit inside this black serving dish


To see the finished product, check his site SHUU Japan.

Now I just need some event to go to so I can wear one of his beautiful pieces.

Flower Artist Azuma Makoto -- Amazing!

I think of ikebana as an art form, one that has been in practice and development for over 500 years. What originally started out as an offering to Buddha has evolved into an art form for the modern age.

Azuma Makoto, a Japanese flower artist, has taken the art of flowers to another level. He has approached the world of flowers as an artist, not someone who does ikebana. He has truly created a new art form that expresses the beauty of flowers in new and unusual ways. One word to describe his work -- amazing!

add campaign for AQUOS tvs*

frozen flowers*

frozen flowers with a pine tree suspended in a metal frame with wire*

a moss instillation*

exhibit for the Shanghai Exhibition last year*

He is also a performance artist. Watch this mesmerizng video of him arranging flowers, all behind a screen, so all you see is the shadow.



Click here for his site to see more pictures and videos. Simply amazing!

*all pictures taken from his site

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a great time over the holidays.

I had a wonderful time at home in Arkansas over Christmas -- lots of shopping and eating and visiting with family, and a relaxing new year here in Japan. I've had a little over three weeks off from work and have enjoyed every minute of it. I hope I can remember how to teach when I have to go back to work tomorrow. . .

The first ikebana that you do for the new year is called 初生け, hatsu ike. Usually, I don't do much during this time of year. There are no lessons, and I'm usually too busy relaxing to do anything. But this year, a friend of mine asked me to do something for his shop window. I had never done anything like this before, but I thought it would be a good challenge for me (I want to challenge myself more this year in ikebana) and get the new year started off right.

For New Year, pine is a popular item to use. It is a long lasting material, strong in the cold weather, and green during the white winter. I thought that I would use three different types of pine to make an arrangement. My friend had a beautiful vase that his grandmother had made, and I thought it would be perfect for the arrangement.

Finished?

After finishing the arrangement, I thought that it looked good, but it was missing something. It needed a little something to make it gorgeous, to show it off for the New Year. I went home and made a small pick of gold to go in the arrangement. I used some gold paper to fold a couple of fans and then used mizuhiki to make some bands of gold to go along with it.

Finished!

I think the little bit of gold sets off the arrangement and gives it the special "New Year" feel. I have to admit, I have driven by the shop several times to see the piece in the window. You don't often get to see your works out in the public like this. Kind of exciting!

It was a good experience for me and got me motivated to do something at home.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Day with the morning light on the flowers

While home for Christmas, I also did a few arrangements.

Mom's dining room table

Five little arrangements along the table runner.

The red lamp was my father's mother's lamp.

I also went to my grandmother's house to decorate her table for her.

View from above

Circular Form with calla lilies

I think I have started the year off right. I plan on challenging myself more this year and hope to grow more in my ikebana.

I hope everyone has a great New Year! May the year bring you family, friends, laughter, and love.